Thread: Trouble Starting Gravely Compact Pro 34

I have a question about my Gravely that I am hoping someone can answer. My machine is now about 1.5 yrs old, and I have this issue that I have to keep clicking the starter before it catches, and turns the engine to start. It almost sounds like a loose battery cable, but I have checked the connections, and they all appear tight. It seems to be getting worse. Can anyone give me an idea of what it could be? Has anyone else had this issue?

I would take the starter off and bring it to the dealer or a parts store to have it checked. I had a late model Gravely that we ended up replacing the starter on.Posted via Mobile Device

Just so everyone knows, this is a known problem with Gravely. As soon as I called the dealer and described the problem, he said there is a 'kit' that they have to install to fix this problem. I took it in, and they installed an additional relay. Took about 15 minutes, and all is well now.

My mower with 75 hours had the start when it wants to problem. I lived with for quite awhile until it would almost not start. The dealer replace a wiring harness under warranty and has been fine since then.

Curious if anyone knows what the fix was for this problem? I have the same issue, and it is getting much worse. My closest dealer in Cocoa, FL has not heard of this common problem, and despite my rig having only 150 hours, it is not covered under warranty as it was purchased with commercial intent.

I had the same issue with my compact pro 34. My machine right now has 30 hours and it will be a year old in august of 2015.

I bought it to the dealer and they put a relay in line with the starter . I'm not exactly sure what cable is on, all i know its fixed. It started doing this with only 10 hours on it. Its under warranty and I didn't have to pay anything.

What happens is your not getting a full 12.5+/- to the starter solenoid maybe 10.5-11v. It causes all kinds of BS crap like clicking like the battery is dead, sluggish starting (like a weak battery) etc. You need all the VOLTAGE that the battery can supply to get the solenoid to kick-in solid so in will engage the flywheel solidly & with good main electrical contact so the starter can use all the AMPS the battery can supply to spin the starter. I had this exact same problem with my hustler 28efi. What happens is somewhere in the ignition circuit your getting a voltage drop through the safety switches/connections etc. What the additional relay does is uses the ign. wire as the signal wire for the added relay (the relay will still kick in with a reduced voltage) But this relay gets the pass thru voltage straight from the battery(no voltage drop). So you still get the benefit of the safety circuit with the solenoid getting a good reliable feed straight from the battery. GOOGLE it. Theres multiple how-tos on installing these 5-6 buck 30amp rated relays on engines. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID! No more BS clicking & dragging starter!!!

I had no idea that weakign. voltage to the solenoid would cause this. I figured if the solenoid would kick in...it would work 100% as designed ....NO. It will half-azz engage the flywheel, Grinding or just clicking...or sometimes dragging like a low battery. If you keep clicking the solenoid like that...it will start smoking. All because it's not getting the proper voltage to work as designed.